Top ten Irish male fashion disasters - PHOTOS & POLL

Irish men are in the main huge fashion conformists who are indifferent to trends and secretly overawed by fashion. If it's in the shops and other people are wearing it it they'll probably give it a go but don't look to them for fashion forwardness.

If you're looking for an Irish man with obvious personal style try Kerry footballer Paul Galvin. But for every one of him there's 100 poor gasurs still stuck in the 1980's elevator.

Tell us if you agree or disagree and let us know who you think should be on - or off - the list. We name and shame because we love, obviously. It 's hard to overstate the damage that one truly committed man can do to the international image of Irish style.

1. Michael Flatley

Legendary Irish dancer Michael Flatley's modus operandi has always been go big or go home. But constantly wondering how to top yourself should never lead to fashion mavens ardently hoping that you will.

Give the man his due though, for over ten years he stood at the center of a major revitalization of Irish dance (we just wish he hadn't done most of it in shimmering gold lame).

There are so many things to lament about Flatley's personal style: the gold head bands, the glistening orange chest, the lace up black leather pants, the embroidered flamenco jackets, and worst of all - oh mother of God - the frilly overblown shirt sleeves. You could have hidden half a medieval court in them. Believe it or not they're still spoken of with dread and horror wherever fashionable Irish people meet.

2. Jedward

These two fraternal Irish pop singing twins really deserve their own category. They're either deliberately provocative performance artists or raving lunatics. Jedward really don't care what you think of them, and if you deeply dislike them they may actually prefer it.

In terms of fashion they get it right as often as they get it wrong but we're including them here one reason: the stand up spiky blond hair.

Like everything else they do, Jedward want a big reaction from you - any reaction really - and the hair is just the tip of their obnoxious iceberg. They're actually closer to the spirit of punk rock, which makes their genesis on the most conservative music show in the universe (The X Factor) all the more funny. Simon Cowell couldn’t stand them and that’s recommendation enough for us.

3. Daniel O'Donnell

It's all been said a million time before about Daniel we know, but don’t forget to remember those heavy knitted sweaters, accessorized with that thousand-yard-stare. Or all the stone washed denim. Have you had enough yet?

We like and admire former Irish rugby ace Shane Byrne's achievements on the field: he's clearly got the heart of a lion, but is that any excuse to have the mane of a lion on his head too?

We're starkly terrified of whatever it is he calls that 'do. Some have described it as a mullet but that doesn't really capture its epic horror. It's looks like “Braveheart” meets Ziggy Stardust meets The Lion King. Get that man to a salon, he's a five alarm emergency.

5. Irish men's shoes.

Good God, what the hell is going on with Irish men's shoes? Do they ever actually look at their own feet? Irish men are either in trainers, or wearing crap shiny black leather plods that look like they were designed in a world with only two dimensions. Your shoes are the first thing that people notice about you, studies show - so you'd want to get it right. And you don't. Always avoid buckles.

If you have ever or will ever wear a t-shirt that says ‘Fight/Kiss/Squeeze me, I'm Irish’ in any of its multiple permutations you have never had and you will never will have style.

That is all.

7. Enda Kenny

Our Irish prime minister has never met a garish neon color he wasn't afraid to wear as a tie. But it's his robotically oversized shoulder pads that give him that unfortunate Terminator look. Too stiff, too starched, too packaged, he's let his stylists do all the thinking and it shows.